1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvements in a dispenser for plastic bags or like articles.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In the art directed to dispensers for plastic bags, such constructions were generally constructed of rigid box-like containers wherein the plastic bags were separably inter-connected within the box. Such dispensers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,684 to Boeckman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,800 to Nocek et al and U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,978 to Cawley. One attempt to make the plastic bags more readily removable from a box is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,512,276 to Herrington. In Herrington the plastic bags had to first be individually folded on parallel fold lines formed in each bag, and then assembled and stacked within the box. In another rigid walled construction bag dispenser, such as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,423 to Nguyen, separate stacked bags were mounted on a roller bar for bag removal.
Another prior art approach was where there was no container or dispenser, and instead the plastic bags were detachably attached on a header with the user having to pull and separate the bag from the header usually at a perforated line, and open the bag during or after removal. Such prior art constructions are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,221,927 to Lowry, U.S. Pat. No. 4,290,467 to Schmidt, U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,586 to Bruno, U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,883 to Greenfield et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,698 to Huseman and U.S. Pat. No. 5,419,437 to Huseman.
One attempt to provide mounting a plastic bag dispenser is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,216,863 to Seymour-Smith. The Seymour-Smith mounting construction required that the dispenser top portion be strengthened and provided with a through hole by which the dispenser was suspended vertically from a hook. The use of a punched hole in the top of the dispenser as the mounting element was undesirable in that excessive thermo-forming or dispenser strengthening was required to prevent tearing of the bag around the hole, and particularly so when the plastic bags slidingly frictionally engaged the pouch and other bag surfaces in removal. Still further, the location of the dispenser was limited by the presence and location of the hook and hook mount on the wall. Further it was both necessary and most inconvenient to obtain a hook suitably sized and mounted in order to use the Seymour-Smith bag dispenser. Users would also be incumbered in mounting the hook and then be constrained in the dispenser mount location by the hook mount location.
Now there is provided by the present invention an improved plastic bag dispenser which is selectively mounted to diverse vertical and horizontal surfaces, and wherein the dispenser when depleted of plastic bags can be detached from the selected surface mount and then readily replaced with a full dispenser on the same mounting element.
The art also desired a readily manufactured and assembled low cost flexible construction bag dispenser which could store and readily dispense a folded stack of bags without damage to the thin walled flexible plastic sheet construction dispenser. The present invention achieves these prior art goals as well.